How much of an employee’s career is their organization responsible for? Individuals are eager to learn, but is it the employer’s responsibility to help them? The answer is, or should be, a resounding yes.
Talent development is the set of frameworks and efforts that organizations design and implement to help their workforce evolve continually alongside the business’s needs, ensuring continuity and competitiveness.
Talent development also plays a critical part in keeping employees engaged and fulfilled in their roles, making talent development a key driver of retention. Seven in 10 respondents surveyed in LinkedIn Learning’s 2024 Workplace Learning Report said learning improves their sense of connection to their organization. The report also found that companies with strong learning cultures have higher retention rates.
Today, companies need talent development strategies to help employees leverage new technologies and keep pace with change. Here, we dive into talent development and offer actionable solutions to help make the business case for it.
Going Deeper on Talent Development
“Talent development is a massive function of a business, and without talent, you don't really have a business,” said Yekaterina Weaklim, interim human resources consultant at Korn Ferry.
Like many HR functions, talent development is multifaceted. While often associated with training, talent development encompasses a broader scope: from pre-assessment through training programs, upskilling initiatives, continuous learning opportunities, mentoring, leadership development, and succession planning.
Ultimately meant to deliver the organization the skills and competencies it needs to remain competitive, talent development is also a key retention tool.
“There are layers to talent development. It means analyzing at the company level to identify gaps, but also at the individual level to understand what workers are looking for from their career and from the organization,” said Nadia Eran, a fractional head of people and people ops leader for Series A through C startups. To find these gaps, companies should run talent reviews. With that information and insight into employee career goals, HR can tailor growth trajectories to the individual while meeting organizational needs.
While talent development connects to other performance and skill-building initiatives, it remains distinct.
Talent Development vs. Talent Management
Talent management refers to the HR processes that shape the employee lifecycle, including recruiting, onboarding, training, promoting, and retaining talent. Talent development is about nurturing employees’ skills and abilities.
Talent Development vs. Performance Management
Performance management identifies gaps, strengths, and areas for improvement through performance reviews, goal setting, and ongoing feedback. These, in turn, directly inform talent development efforts by highlighting employees’ specific skills, competencies, or knowledge areas that need to be developed.
Talent Development vs. Career Pathing
Talent development builds skills and capabilities, while career pathing maps out potential advancement routes through an organization over time. Talent development is the strategy that drives employee readiness for a specific career path.
How a Structured Talent Development Program Benefits Your Business
While informal learning occurs naturally in any workplace, a structured talent development program delivers more equitable opportunities across the organization. It also allows a company to more adeptly nurture the exact skills and competencies it is looking for.
“Leaders should recognize that constant improvement is a key for success, and if they prioritize it, it benefits the broader business and can then be used as a lens to advance their teams,” said Lori Scherwin, certified professional coach and founder of executive coaching firm Strategize That.
- It helps the organization expand into new areas. Especially in the age of generative AI, companies should be proactively developing the skills they need in their workforce. A formalized approach to development gives you a framework to identify talent gaps and cultivate these capabilities in your existing staff.
- It improves employee engagement. Employees want to see a path forward in their career, and if it’s not at your organization they’ll look for it elsewhere. Company-sponsored development creates multiple touchpoints that encourage an individual’s sense of attachment to the company, which is a key driver of engagement.
HR professionals agree, and the majority are leveraging learning and development (L&D) to boost engagement: 68% of HR professionals surveyed for Lattice’s 2025 State of People Strategy Report believe L&D initiatives will be the foundation of engagement strategies in the coming 12 months.
- It develops a strong manager pipeline. Often, employees are promoted to management without receiving training on how to be a manager. With a structured talent development program, companies can equip high-potential employees with learning experiences and mentorship that will make them strong candidates for leadership roles.
- It increases employee retention. There may be no better bulwark against turnover than an effective talent development strategy.
For one, talent development allows the employee to clearly see a potential career or growth trajectory at the company. The fact that the organization is investing in their development at all demonstrates their value as a team member. And as the employee gains new skills and competencies, they become more valuable to the org — making them more eligible for promotions, raises, and new opportunities.
“When people leave jobs or start looking, one of the main reasons cited is lack of opportunity for growth/advancement. Building this into their day-to-day lessens the chance of losing talent and dealing with the costs — implicit and explicit, tangible and intangible — of turnover,” said Scherwin.
How to Tell Whether You Need to Invest in Talent Development
Companies that lack a formal approach to talent development face common challenges at the organizational, team, and individual levels. As a result, there are several clear and common indicators an organization needs to invest more in talent development:
Regular Requests for More Headcount
When managers regularly request budget for new headcount, it can be a sign that they’re struggling with a skills gap more than a capacity issue, Weaklim said. Employees may lack fluency in the technical skills they need to be efficient or require additional training in prioritizing tasks or delegating, for example.
Budget for headcount is usually different than for development, so a better approach is to say, “You have a big team of capable people, so let’s work on developing the skills you need on the team you already have,” explained Weaklim.
Poor Retention of High Performers
If attrition rates among top talent are higher than average, a lack of development opportunities may be the reason. All employees — but particularly high performers — need to be intellectually stimulated to stay engaged. At the same time, they’re commonly looking for signs that their employer is willing to invest in their professional development and that they have a path forward at the company.
An Emphasis on External Hiring for Leadership Positions
If the response to a leader’s departure is to recruit externally, a company likely has an issue with talent development. Investing in the existing workforce creates a talent pipeline for individuals ready to assume leadership positions. This way, the company retains institutional knowledge, generates more engaged employees, and contributes to a company culture that tells employees a promotion to leadership is a very real opportunity.
Poor Engagement Survey Results
Have you seen low scores on employee survey questions on development? If scores related to employee growth opportunities, learning, and career advancement are trending downward, you likely need to invest in development. When this decline is coupled with other factors like elevated turnover among high performers, challenges meeting goals, and regular requests for more headcount, talent development is even more crucial.
How to Build a Talent Development Strategy
The best talent development strategy for you will be unique to the nuances of your company, but the following three ideas provide a foundation.
1. Get buy-in.
Without executive buy-in, talent development initiatives won’t be successful. Period. Either they’ll be deprioritized by budgetary constraints or the initiatives will seem inauthentic and HR, managers, and employees won’t take them seriously.
“Simply put, it needs to be a priority for the CEO and it needs to be embedded in the culture. If management doesn't embrace it, it won't work,” said Scherwin. “Talent plans have to be authentic and feel authentic or it falls apart.”
To generate buy-in, use qualitative and quantitative data to support your case. “HR leaders need to find examples of development initiatives and ask, ‘How have these developmental programs impacted our organizational goals, our employee performance, and our financial outcomes?’” said Eran. “Look for small examples that can be extrapolated out for future success,” she added.
2. Look for key skill gaps preventing teams or the business from achieving results.
To identify skill gaps when building your case for investment, think small. Eran said it can be helpful to take a micro approach to reskilling and skill development in order to generate big changes.
“Look for the low-hanging fruit that will allow you to see quick results and know that you’re going in the right direction,” said Eran. It could be a pilot based on a specific skill set, or a specific team, for example. “Hyperfocus and see: Can you move the needle on this one thing? If projects are all over the place and teams don’t know what they’re doing, just focus on project planning and look for metrics that indicate success.”
Next, leverage that to request additional funding. “It will be much easier to secure budget for a larger investment if you’ve already demonstrated the return on an existing skills gap,” she added.
3. Identify process shortfalls.
Audit your processes to ensure they align with talent development goals. For example, are managers having consistent and purposeful conversations about skill and talent development, or is it only happening during formal reviews? Lattice research points to the latter, finding that just 15% of employees have regular development conversations.
“Your plan needs to be proactive and ongoing, not reactive. It’s not about fixing issues or filling gaps, it’s about making great leaders and allowing people to grow as people, not just as cogs in the wheel. It’s beyond what skills are required to get the job done today, it’s about building the capabilities to get the next level job done tomorrow,” said Scherwin.
Talent Development in Action: Examples
Investment in talent development initiatives sets a company up to benefit from real dividends. Read on for quantifiable benefits from two Lattice Grow customers.
Growth at Articore Group
At Articore Group, the parent company of global marketplaces Redbubble.com and TeePublic.com, employee development was on the back burner until they started working with Lattice.
“I’ll be honest, growth had been put in the ‘too hard’ basket,” said Meahan Callaghan, Articore’s chief people and culture officer. “Everybody in our team wanted to grow, but we weren’t having the right career conversations, and we weren’t recording individual development aspirations due to the limitations of our tech.”
Today, Lattice Grow ensures every member of the Articore team knows how to develop. The platform ensures clear expectations and offers documented career paths, which has led to meaningful development conversations across all levels — including C-suite executives.
“It’s a dream! A truly positive approach to career development that almost feels like a free-flowing conversation, as opposed to one viewed as analytical and a source of friction. Everyone knows where they are and what they need to do next,” Callaghan added.
Career Tracking at Agero
Agero, a provider of driver safety services and technology, revolutionized its talent development approach by implementing Lattice. The company rebranded its talent management strategy as “Grow. Perform. Succeed.” With this new direction, the team focused on creating transparent career pathways and meaningful development opportunities, leveraging Lattice every step of the way.
Under VP of Talent Development Kim Remley, Agero selected Lattice for its configurable platform, modern interface, and comprehensive features including performance reviews, career planning, and 360-degree feedback. Since implementing Lattice, Agero has seen impressive results, with a 98% review completion rate and over 80% of users establishing career tracks.
This latter piece has been key. As Remley said, “Doing so gives a high degree of transparency across the enterprise into what success looks like for each area and role.” With Remley’s guidance and Lattice’s features, Agero has also moved away from perfunctory development discussions, instead prioritizing more robust and strategic conversations to drive employee development.
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Remaining Competitive and Retain Your Best People
A structured talent development program is non-negotiable for organizations that want to stay competitive and retain their best talent. By investing in formal development initiatives, companies can develop critical employee skills and competencies, boost engagement and retention, and create a strong leadership pipeline that supports the business’s long-term goals.
Request a demo today to learn more about how Lattice supports your talent development initiatives.
Using Lattice to Drive Your Talent Development Program
Lattice gives human resources teams the tools they need to help employees grow. Growth and development are multifaceted, and Lattice’s products are no different. Here’s how Lattice shows up to support your employees in their development journey.
📈Individual Development Plans: With individual development plans (IDPs), Lattice helps you build a strategic, streamlined development program that activates and aligns every employee from the start.
✅OKRs & Goals: Use OKRs to activate employees around shared company goals to drive collaboration and help employees see the direct impact of their work on the company’s goals. With Goals, define clear objectives, create alignment, track progress, and drive continuous accountability.
💬Lattice 1:1s: Keep a steady drumbeat of conversation going with one-on-ones that facilitate a stronger manager-employee relationship and support a development-focused culture.
